Our Memorial Day Sunday service was a special day as we honored those people in the past who wore uniforms representing our country. People who fought against those who were trying to steal our freedom away. On Memorial Day Sunday we also remembered the people in the present, who still fight for our freedoms today. As an American, we can enjoy a freedom and a quality of life that many people in the world don’t have. That freedom that quality of life didn’t just happen out of the blue, it’s something that was earned for us by other people. That’s why we have Memorial Day, to remember and honor those people.
We celebrate Memorial Day once a year to remember those who died for freedom. But every week, every Sunday can be a memorial day as we come to celebrate our life in Christ. Those who were sacrificed in war gave us political freedom, but Jesus Christ gives us eternal freedom. The Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:13 tells us that we as believers have been made alive in Christ. Last Sunday we found out what being alive in Christ really means.
●Being alive in Christ means that we have His life on the inside of us.
1 John 4:13 (NKJV) says "we abide in Him and He in us".
●Being alive in Christ means that we have been forgiven and raised up in Him as His workmanship a new creation.
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
●Being alive in Christ means that He has joined Himself with each one of us.
Jesus said in John 15:5 (NKJV)
"I am the vine; you are the branches"
●Being alive in Christ means that we are seated with Him in heavenly places.
The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:6 (NKJV) says that Jesus has,
Raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
A devout Scotchman, being asked if he ever expected to go to heaven answered, “Why man I live there”. Heaven is not a far distant place of which we know very little about, it can be experienced here and now because of the sacrifice that Christ has made for each one of us. On Memorial Day Sunday we celebrated both being alive and those who have gone on before us. As we prepared to enter into a day to remember those who died for liberty, we also remembered the One who died to set us free. We came together to celebrate being alive in Christ.
May 25, 2009
May 9, 2009
Thanks Mom!
Exodus 20:12 says,
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Last Sunday on Mother’s Day we honored mothers. We were there to praise mom. We were there to honor our mothers. Paul tells us in Romans 13:6 to give honor to whom honor is due. Honor is certainly due to mothers.
We also looked at three things that we found in the life of the special mom found in Proverbs 31:10-31. The first thing we found was that this mom was a hard worker.
Verse 14 says, “She brings her food from afar.”
Verse 15 says, “She provides food for her household...”
Verse 16 says, “She plants a vineyard...”
Verse 17 says, “She is energetic and strong, a hard worker”.
The second thing we found was that this mom spoke with wisdom. The first part of verse 26 says, "When she speaks, her words are wise”. Then we looked at the many things that mom’s teach us as we are growing up. Mom taught us about contortionism when they said things like, "Look at the dirt on the back of your neck?" Mom also taught us about perseverance with the words, "I don’t care you are going to sit here until you eat every last piece of that broccoli."
The third thing we found from these verses in Proverbs was, she has a hart that loves.
Verses 11-12 says, “Her husband trusts her without reserve, and never has reason to regret it. Never spiteful, she treats him generously all her life long.
If a husband has full or complete trust in his wife, then you know that she is a woman who loves her husband. Mom’s can be so unselfish at times. They give to others what they should of received themselves. Many of us can remember the times that our mom gave and gave out of a heart of love.
One mother described her life this way:
"I will not have a temper tantrum nor stomp across the floor-
I will not pout, scream or shout or kick against the door-
I will not throw my food around or pick upon another-
I’ll always try to be real good because I am the Mother…"
-author unknown
God bless you mom for all that you have done all that you do and all you will do you are special.
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Last Sunday on Mother’s Day we honored mothers. We were there to praise mom. We were there to honor our mothers. Paul tells us in Romans 13:6 to give honor to whom honor is due. Honor is certainly due to mothers.
We also looked at three things that we found in the life of the special mom found in Proverbs 31:10-31. The first thing we found was that this mom was a hard worker.
Verse 14 says, “She brings her food from afar.”
Verse 15 says, “She provides food for her household...”
Verse 16 says, “She plants a vineyard...”
Verse 17 says, “She is energetic and strong, a hard worker”.
The second thing we found was that this mom spoke with wisdom. The first part of verse 26 says, "When she speaks, her words are wise”. Then we looked at the many things that mom’s teach us as we are growing up. Mom taught us about contortionism when they said things like, "Look at the dirt on the back of your neck?" Mom also taught us about perseverance with the words, "I don’t care you are going to sit here until you eat every last piece of that broccoli."
The third thing we found from these verses in Proverbs was, she has a hart that loves.
Verses 11-12 says, “Her husband trusts her without reserve, and never has reason to regret it. Never spiteful, she treats him generously all her life long.
If a husband has full or complete trust in his wife, then you know that she is a woman who loves her husband. Mom’s can be so unselfish at times. They give to others what they should of received themselves. Many of us can remember the times that our mom gave and gave out of a heart of love.
One mother described her life this way:
"I will not have a temper tantrum nor stomp across the floor-
I will not pout, scream or shout or kick against the door-
I will not throw my food around or pick upon another-
I’ll always try to be real good because I am the Mother…"
-author unknown
God bless you mom for all that you have done all that you do and all you will do you are special.
May 5, 2009
Our Road to Emmaus
Last Sunday we talked about two weary travelers that had many great expectations, but all of their great expectations came crashing down one day. These two guys really had a bad day. A day when it seemed that evil had won and all hope was lost.
We looked at Luke 24:13-35 where these two weary travelers while walking on the road to a village called Emmaus are joined by Jesus. As Jesus joins them, their eyes are blinded to exactly who He is. Jesus and the travelers talk about the things have happened concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
Then beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus gave them a quick bible study from the Scriptures concerning Himself. After the study was over, the two travelers invite Jesus to spend the night with them. As Jesus takes the form of a servant and passes them the bread, their eyes are open to who He is. At that moment they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
We looked at many things that these travelers learned from their time with Jesus including:
They learned not to believe every thing they saw with their own eyes. These two had seen Jesus die on the cross but they soon learned that God was in the business of changing the imagine they saw earlier to the imagine they saw standing in front of them three days later which was Jesus raised from the dead. When things go wrong in your life. When your job doesn’t work out, when people give you problems, when you have problems in school, just remember, God hasn’t given up on you, and if you love the Lord, He is working it to your good.
The second thing they learned was that God can take the worst and bring about the best. These two travelers had witnessed the greatest tragedy the world has ever known. A perfectly righteous man, who had never done anything wrong, was crucified at the hands of wicked and evil men. Yet, when mankind was at it’s worst, God was at His best, and on the darkest of days, He was using the worst act in history to bring about His great redemption plan. If God can take the most tragic event in history and turn it into the grandest gift of all time, just imagine what He can do with your life and mine.
The third thing they learned was that God could exceed their greatest expectations. They had witnessed the greatest miracle of God. They had witnessed Jesus raised from the dead but they would also witness amazing acts of God the rest of their lives. For after Jesus was gone into heaven they began to see how God loved all people and how He wanted everyone to have a relationship with Him. They saw thousands upon thousands of people born again and baptized. They saw a ruthless persecutor named Saul change from someone who once victimized the Church, to someone that would bend his knee to the risen Lord. God exceeded their greatest expectations and God will do the same for each one of us. I pray that each of us has high expectations for what God will do in our life.
The "Road to Emmaus" is in many ways a lot like our life because we are on a road of our own. A journey of life, a journey in which God longs to use us to far exceed the greatest expectations WE have of ourselves. And on this road we call life; we will encounter many disappointments and setbacks. Like the two travelers, we will have many times when we find our heads hanging low as the struggles of the world weigh heavy on our live. Many times when our disappointments and our heartaches cause us to lose joy and hope. But just when we think all is lost, for the Follower of Jesus, we find that someone else has joined us on our journey. And that person is not a stranger, He is Jesus and He walks along the road of life with us.
We looked at Luke 24:13-35 where these two weary travelers while walking on the road to a village called Emmaus are joined by Jesus. As Jesus joins them, their eyes are blinded to exactly who He is. Jesus and the travelers talk about the things have happened concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
Then beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus gave them a quick bible study from the Scriptures concerning Himself. After the study was over, the two travelers invite Jesus to spend the night with them. As Jesus takes the form of a servant and passes them the bread, their eyes are open to who He is. At that moment they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
We looked at many things that these travelers learned from their time with Jesus including:
They learned not to believe every thing they saw with their own eyes. These two had seen Jesus die on the cross but they soon learned that God was in the business of changing the imagine they saw earlier to the imagine they saw standing in front of them three days later which was Jesus raised from the dead. When things go wrong in your life. When your job doesn’t work out, when people give you problems, when you have problems in school, just remember, God hasn’t given up on you, and if you love the Lord, He is working it to your good.
The second thing they learned was that God can take the worst and bring about the best. These two travelers had witnessed the greatest tragedy the world has ever known. A perfectly righteous man, who had never done anything wrong, was crucified at the hands of wicked and evil men. Yet, when mankind was at it’s worst, God was at His best, and on the darkest of days, He was using the worst act in history to bring about His great redemption plan. If God can take the most tragic event in history and turn it into the grandest gift of all time, just imagine what He can do with your life and mine.
The third thing they learned was that God could exceed their greatest expectations. They had witnessed the greatest miracle of God. They had witnessed Jesus raised from the dead but they would also witness amazing acts of God the rest of their lives. For after Jesus was gone into heaven they began to see how God loved all people and how He wanted everyone to have a relationship with Him. They saw thousands upon thousands of people born again and baptized. They saw a ruthless persecutor named Saul change from someone who once victimized the Church, to someone that would bend his knee to the risen Lord. God exceeded their greatest expectations and God will do the same for each one of us. I pray that each of us has high expectations for what God will do in our life.
The "Road to Emmaus" is in many ways a lot like our life because we are on a road of our own. A journey of life, a journey in which God longs to use us to far exceed the greatest expectations WE have of ourselves. And on this road we call life; we will encounter many disappointments and setbacks. Like the two travelers, we will have many times when we find our heads hanging low as the struggles of the world weigh heavy on our live. Many times when our disappointments and our heartaches cause us to lose joy and hope. But just when we think all is lost, for the Follower of Jesus, we find that someone else has joined us on our journey. And that person is not a stranger, He is Jesus and He walks along the road of life with us.
May 2, 2009
Don't Fight The Crowds Come And Receive!
As I sit at my desk preparing for Sunday morning, I am thinking about all of the thousands of people that will be in downtown Spokane tomorrow morning at Bloomsday 2009. They are expecting over 5000 runners, joggers and walkers. Those of you that don't want to fight the crowds at Bloomday are welcome to join us at Destiny Church and receive from Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit!
April 28, 2009
Can You Hear Me?
One of the basic claims we have as Christians is that God is alive and He wants to have a relationship with us. In fact our salvation is based on the relationship we have with God. But we can’t have a relationship with someone without communication. In order to have a relationship with someone we must speak to them, we must listen to them and they must speak and listen to us.
Last Sunday we talked about our communication with God. Not just talking to God in prayer but actually having God speak back to us. Actually hearing and receiving God’s plans for our lives. Receiving His guidance concerning specific decisions we need to make so we make wise choices. God speaking to us is one of the special blessings we have as one of God’s kids that we need to take advantage of today. Jesus had something to say about hearing God’s voice and it’s found in John chapter 10…
Jesus said in John 10:27,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Since Jesus said in verse 27 that we believers can know His voice and follow that voice, the question we should be asking is, “How can I know the voice of God?” Knowing the voice of God results in finding the will of God and God wants you to know His will.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:4,
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
The word “proceeds” in this verse is talking about something that’s continuing. It means something that happened in the past, is happening in the present, and will continue in the future. God speaks to communicate His will to mankind. That’s why it’s important to know the voice of God.
In John 10:3-5 Jesus said believers could know the voice of God and distinguish it from “strange” voices that give wrong guidance. In the scriptures believers are compared to sheep. Many times sheep not to know where they are going so they need to be led. Jesus said He was the shepherd or leader of the sheep. He said His sheep know His voice and follow Him instead of the "strange" voices.
Psalms 85:8
I will hear what God the LORD will speak...
Psalms 85:8 (Amp)
I will listen with expectancy to what God the Lord will say…
Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit said in John 16:13,
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Today God speaks to us in so many different ways. We really can’t lock Him into only one way. But most often how we are going to hear the voice of the Lord is by the Holy Spirit that dwells and abides in every believer. It is by the Spirit. God is a spirit and God ministers to us through the Holy Spirit so we can still hear that tender voice of the Lord. Most of the time it’s going to be a strong impression that just seams to come out of know where. You may be driving down the street or walking some where and all of a sudden there’s just a strong impression where you just know you need to do this or need to do that.
Every one is different and the Lord knows just what is right for you. He knows just how to get your attention and how to speak to you. If you’re a believer, I can guarantee that the Lord has spoken to you in one way or another. It may not be with words but like I said before it may be a strong impression to do one thing or another. Have you ever had a thought and it just kind of came from know where and you may of thought, “Why did I think that”? But once you considered that thought, it was wisdom for that situation. Many times the Lord is speaking and people are just no recognizing that it’s the Lord speaking into their life. We can lean to recognize the voice of the Lord just like a little baby learns to recognize the voice of their parents.
Many times when the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit, it will come to us in a different manner than we would speak to ourselves or speak to someone else. I think God does that so He can get our attention. So we will know it’s not ourselves speaking. God has many ways of speaking into the lives of His people but what need to see that God can speak in a small quiet voice in our heart.
Jesus said in John 10:27
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
We just need to find out how God by His Spirit speaks to each one of us. God wants to speak into your life today. He wants you to be able to hear Him. He will do what ever is necessary to help you understand what He wants to tell you. What we need to do is trust Him, we need to listen because God is speaking, and know that God wants to speak into our life.
Last Sunday we talked about our communication with God. Not just talking to God in prayer but actually having God speak back to us. Actually hearing and receiving God’s plans for our lives. Receiving His guidance concerning specific decisions we need to make so we make wise choices. God speaking to us is one of the special blessings we have as one of God’s kids that we need to take advantage of today. Jesus had something to say about hearing God’s voice and it’s found in John chapter 10…
Jesus said in John 10:27,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Since Jesus said in verse 27 that we believers can know His voice and follow that voice, the question we should be asking is, “How can I know the voice of God?” Knowing the voice of God results in finding the will of God and God wants you to know His will.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:4,
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
The word “proceeds” in this verse is talking about something that’s continuing. It means something that happened in the past, is happening in the present, and will continue in the future. God speaks to communicate His will to mankind. That’s why it’s important to know the voice of God.
In John 10:3-5 Jesus said believers could know the voice of God and distinguish it from “strange” voices that give wrong guidance. In the scriptures believers are compared to sheep. Many times sheep not to know where they are going so they need to be led. Jesus said He was the shepherd or leader of the sheep. He said His sheep know His voice and follow Him instead of the "strange" voices.
Psalms 85:8
I will hear what God the LORD will speak...
Psalms 85:8 (Amp)
I will listen with expectancy to what God the Lord will say…
Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit said in John 16:13,
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Today God speaks to us in so many different ways. We really can’t lock Him into only one way. But most often how we are going to hear the voice of the Lord is by the Holy Spirit that dwells and abides in every believer. It is by the Spirit. God is a spirit and God ministers to us through the Holy Spirit so we can still hear that tender voice of the Lord. Most of the time it’s going to be a strong impression that just seams to come out of know where. You may be driving down the street or walking some where and all of a sudden there’s just a strong impression where you just know you need to do this or need to do that.
Every one is different and the Lord knows just what is right for you. He knows just how to get your attention and how to speak to you. If you’re a believer, I can guarantee that the Lord has spoken to you in one way or another. It may not be with words but like I said before it may be a strong impression to do one thing or another. Have you ever had a thought and it just kind of came from know where and you may of thought, “Why did I think that”? But once you considered that thought, it was wisdom for that situation. Many times the Lord is speaking and people are just no recognizing that it’s the Lord speaking into their life. We can lean to recognize the voice of the Lord just like a little baby learns to recognize the voice of their parents.
Many times when the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit, it will come to us in a different manner than we would speak to ourselves or speak to someone else. I think God does that so He can get our attention. So we will know it’s not ourselves speaking. God has many ways of speaking into the lives of His people but what need to see that God can speak in a small quiet voice in our heart.
Jesus said in John 10:27
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
We just need to find out how God by His Spirit speaks to each one of us. God wants to speak into your life today. He wants you to be able to hear Him. He will do what ever is necessary to help you understand what He wants to tell you. What we need to do is trust Him, we need to listen because God is speaking, and know that God wants to speak into our life.
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